


Tidal Wave

by twenty3



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Fix-It, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Irondad, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Spider-Man: Far From Home Compliant, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:28:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24574600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twenty3/pseuds/twenty3
Summary: After returning home from Europe, Peter stops by the cemetery to see Tony.He had no idea how true that would turn out to be.
Relationships: Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 9
Kudos: 253





	Tidal Wave

**Author's Note:**

> This is what I wish had happened at the end of Far From Home, and what I'm still holding out hope for in the future.
> 
> Thanks for clicking, and hope everyone enjoys!!

Peter climbed out of the car, wincing slightly at the tightness still in his leg. He leaned on the open door for support, but quickly shut it when he heard May close her door and start to walk around to the sidewalk. He didn’t want her to see him struggling any more than was necessary.

He paused as he looked up at the apartment building. It was starting to get dark, especially with the clouds rolling in. He shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to take a deep breath.

“Are you okay?”

May’s voice broke through his thoughts.

“Yeah,” he said with a slight nod. “I just...I think I’m going to go see Mr. Stark.”

Peter had no idea how true those words would turn out to be.

May smiled softly. “Okay, I’ll drive you over there.”

Peter immediately shook his head. “No, I want to walk. Stretch my legs, get some fresh air after that long flight.”

“It looks like rain soon,” May pointed out. She looked over her nephew and saw a losing battle. “Okay,” she relented. “Just be careful, alright?”

“How much more dangerous could things get?” Peter joked, but earned a glare instead of a laugh.

He waited until May disappeared through the front door of the building before making his way towards the cemetery.

Tony was buried next to his parents. The teenager wasn’t sure how his mentor would feel about that, but Pepper said it was what Tony had wanted.

Peter’s leg loosened up as he walked, but he hardly noticed. He was going over in his mind what he was going to say. It had been a while since he had visited the grave, and the guilt was building with each step he took. The wind beginning to pick up never even registered with him as he approached the gates, walking through without even realizing the half hour walk was now over.

He also hadn’t noticed the person standing at Tony’s headstone until he was only a few feet away. He was about to turn around and do a lap around the cemetery to give whoever it was some time when he suddenly froze, mid-step.

There was no mistaking that silhouette. He knew that spiky brown hair. He knew that stance, those squared and yet somehow also hunched shoulders.

Peter’s vision blurred and his ears began to thud with the beating of his heart as Tony turned around to face him.

The older man looked much the same as he did the last time Peter had seen him in the hospital room before he was dragged out.

The right side of his face was streaked with burn scars that stretched down his neck and disappeared under the collar of his jacket. As he turned, the right sleeve hung limp at his side, loose without the limb that was supposed to accompany it.

Peter couldn’t breathe. He was sure he legs were about to give out.

“Hey, kid,” Tony finally said with a sad smile.

Peter moved back a step. “What the hell?” he breathed.

Tony held up his hand slowly. “It’s okay, Pete. It’s me.”

“It can’t be you,” Peter argued. His stomach was doing somersaults. “It can’t be.”

“It is.” Tony’s voice was soft and calm, but it was Tony’s voice. “I’m so sorry, Peter.”

It was Tony. Tony Stark.

Peter wasn’t sure what was going on. But he was sure that his initial panic was now replaced with pure anger.

He closed the short distance between them in the blink of an eye. He shoved Tony, hard, and the other man immediately lost his balance. He stumbled to the right and was just able to stop himself from falling. Until Peter shoved him again.

Tony fell to his knees, but managed to move his left leg to plant his foot on the ground in time to support the brunt of Peter falling against him.

“Where the fuck have you been?!” the teenager demanded. He was swinging blindly as tears spilled from his eyes. “You died! They told me you died! You son of a bitch!”

Tony made no move to stop Peter. He did nothing at all except keep himself upright so that he and Peter wouldn’t completely fall to the ground.

“I’m sorry,” Tony choked out.

“Fuck you!” Peter spat. “You fucking left me! I thought this was all my fault! I thought...” he trailed off as sobs racked his body. He stopped mid swing, his fist halfway to Tony’s cheek. His hand dropped to his side as his shoulders lurched, his breath being taken away.

Peter fell forward against Tony. He wrapping his arms around his neck automatically. Tony’s remaining arm supported Peter’s back as the boy cried into his shoulder.

They stayed that way for a long time, until the rain started to fall. The cold droplets landing on Peter’s skin slowly brought him back to himself. He took a few deep breaths before he was able to shake free of Tony’s grasp and rise to his feet.

He watched through red rimmed eyes as Tony struggled to stand. The superhero swallowed hard. He made no attempt to wipe the tears away from his pale cheeks.

“How could you do this to me?” Peter demanded.

Tony shook his head slowly. “I didn’t have a choice.”

“Bullshit!” Peter declared.

“Let me explain.”

“Explain what?” Peter wanted to know. “That you faked your death so you could retire without anyone trying to bother you? Without having to deal with me anymore?”

“No,” Tony forced out through the lump in his throat. “Peter, I-”

“I was at your funeral,” Peter sobbed. “We all were. How...” he trailed off as his breathing became labored. “Why did you do this?”

Tony took a step forward, but Peter tensed up, so he stayed where he was.

“Because of Beck.”

Peter was sure he had misheard. “What?”

Tony nodded slowly. “I’ve been keeping tabs on him since I fired him,” he explained. “Before we got you all back, he was going to enact his plan, but it was very different.” Tony took a deep breath to try and steady himself as much as Peter. “He was going to go after Pepper and Morgan.”

Peter swallowed. “I don’t understand.”

“He wanted to hurt me, and he was going to hurt them in order to do it. After I snapped, we knew he was going to use it as an opportunity. And the only way they would definitely be safe is if he thought I was dead.”

“Who’s we?”

Tony cursed himself at his misstep. “Me and Fury,” he admitted. “He’s the only one, other than Pepper and Morgan, who knows I’m still alive.”

The rain was starting to pick up. Peter didn’t notice. He didn’t notice how much he was shaking or how little air he was able to get into his lungs. He was too busy trying to make sense of what was happening in front of him.

Tony was alive. He was standing just feet away from him. All of the pain and anguish Peter had felt the last three months was amplified by the man’s presence.

A crack of thunder brought Tony a few steps closer to Peter, who was still none the wiser of the summer storm about to overtake the city.

“I know you’re angry. You have every right to be. But I’m not going to leave you out here in the rain, kid. Let me at least drive you home.”

Peter shook his head. “That’s it? That’s all I get?”

“No,” Tony sighed. “Of course not. I just...let’s just get in the car, okay?”

Tony moved towards Peter again. The teenager took two steps back, but Tony didn’t stop. So Peter stilled and waited the few seconds it took for Tony to be within arms reach before wrapping his arms around him again.

Peter exhaled a shaky breath against Tony’s shoulder. He told himself in the back of his mind to be careful not to hurt the older man, but he wasn’t able to heed that suggestion all that well. He would have stood there for hours if Tony hadn’t started tugging him towards his car on the other side of the path.

Before he realized it, Peter was climbing into the passenger seat of the black Audi. The rain beating down on the windshield was a surprise to him. He looked down at himself and saw he was fairly wet, but couldn’t feel the cold water on his skin.

He couldn’t feel much of anything, at the moment.

Tony getting in next to him brought him back to reality. He looked over at him, his heart dropping to his stomach at the up close look at the scars. It was clear Tony was in pain. He immediately let his head fall back against the headrest, his eyes slipping closed as he took a few deep breaths.

“Did I hurt you?” Peter all but whispered.

Tony looked over at Peter. Tears filled his eyes as he shook his head.

“No,” he exhaled. “I’m fine. Well, not fine, obviously, but you didn’t...” he trailed off, swallowing hard. “I know this is incredibly fucked up for me to have done this to you, especially this way. But I needed to see you, to make sure you were really okay, and I didn’t want this to go on a second longer than it needed to.”

“I still don’t understand,” Peter said. He wasn’t sure he would ever be able to wrap his head around what was going on.

“I know. I’ll answer whatever questions you have, I swear. Just...are you okay? I know what happened over there, and I wish there was something I could have done.”

“You mean other than entrusting me with your technology with nothing to go on except an index card?”

Tony chewed his lip. “Yeah. I would have liked to have been a little more hands on. But, not really an option anymore.” Peter shot him an unimpressed look at that comment. “Sorry,” Tony mumbled.

Peter was quiet for a long time.

“I can’t believe this is real,” he said, his voice still incredibly weak. “At the hospital...Happy told me that you...that you were gone. And it was so real. He was heartbroken, and so was Colonel Rhodes, and everyone else...”

“I had to keep Pepper and Morgan safe,” Tony repeated. “And I didn’t know how else to do that. He was going to...if he had hurt them...”

“I tried to go see them,” Peter said before he could stop himself. “After the funeral. I wanted to meet Morgan and explain how sorry I was, but Ms. Potts wouldn’t let me. I thought it was because she blamed me for what happened to you.”

Peter watched as Tony’s breathing quickened and tears poured down his cheeks. He closed his eyes and tugged his fingers into his hair, gripping tightly.

“God I’m so sorry,” Tony sobbed. “Pepper will never forgive me for that. And I know you won’t either.” He dropped his hand and forced himself to take several deep breaths. He looked through the windshield as the rain pelted down. “Morgan didn’t understand what was going on. We had to keep her away from everyone because seeing them so upset at the funeral was too much. She didn’t sleep for weeks. She thought I was a ghost and only she could see me.”

Peter started to feel his anger receding. His mind started clearing, and he was able to think about how awful this must have been for Tony. To have had to lie to his friends, to break everyone’s hearts and not be able to tell them he was still there.

He knew Tony wasn’t a malicious person. He knew that he would have only done this if he really hadn’t had another choice.

But, damn, was it painful.

“No one else knows?” Peter inquired. “Happy? Rhodey?”

Tony shook his head. “Not yet. I’m going to tell them, obviously, now that Beck is gone. But I needed to see you first.” He looked over at Peter with red rimmed eyes. “Especially since there’s a very real possibility one of them actually kills me.”

Peter found himself breathing a wet laugh.

Tony kept looking at the teenager next to him while he focused on keeping his breathing even before he spoke again.

“I could hear you, ya know.”

Peter frowned. “What are you talking about?”

Tony swallowed hard. “When Happy told you I was gone. You were in the hallway. And I could hear you yelling. I wanted to change my mind. I wanted to take it back because it wasn’t fair to you, it wasn’t fair to anyone.”

“It doesn’t look like it was fair to you, either,” Peter said quietly.

Tony laughed humorlessly. “I’ve never deserved fair.”

“What are you going to do now?” Peter asked, not sure how else to respond to that.

“Take you home, I guess,” Tony muttered. “Then figure out how I’m going to tell everyone about this.”

“Are you going to be in trouble?”

Tony smiled slightly at Peter still being able to show concern for him. “It’s actually not illegal to fake your own death, unless you do it to get out of taxes or collect insurance or something. I’m sure I’ve broken a law or two, but I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it.”

Peter sank back into the leather seat behind him, feeling the weight of the last few minutes start to leave him.

“May isn’t going to believe me,” he thought out loud.

Tony let out a long breath. “I’d liked to talk to her, if that’s okay with you. I’ve got a lot to explain.”

All Peter could manage at the moment was a slight nod.

He let himself get lost in his thoughts as Tony drove back to his apartment. He was going to inquire how he was going to manage to safely drive with only one arm, but then remembered FRIDAY could pilot an Iron Man suit without an issue; getting a car across town would be simple.

Tony followed Peter upstairs in silence. The teenager carefully opened the door to the apartment, peeking around it to see if May was in the living room. When he saw the coast was clear, he stepped in with Tony close behind. He had just closed the door when May came around the corner from the hallway.

She would have screamed if the air hadn’t been immediately knocked from her lungs.

Peter was trying to think of what he should say when May was suddenly in front of them, winding up before slapping Tony as hard as Peter had ever seen someone be hit.

“May!” Peter exclaimed, stepping between them and putting his hands on her shoulders to move her back.

“You bastard!” May spat. “How dare you!”

“Let her go,” Tony said quietly. “It’s okay, Pete.”

“May, please calm down,” Peter said as evenly as he could, ignoring Tony.

She looked at her nephew, ready to ask how in the hell she could be calm when the man whose death had almost destroyed him was magically standing in their doorway. But the look in Peter’s eyes made her words die in her throat. She took a few steps back until Peter’s hands fell away from her.

“Talk. Now.”

Tony took a deep breath. “Beck was going to go after Pepper and my daughter,” he offered.

“So you substituted Peter instead?” May demanded.

Tony shook his head weakly. Peter watched as a red hand print began to form on his left cheek. “No. That wasn’t the plan. I didn’t want Peter to be involved, but Fury...” he trailed off and sighed heavily. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t explain it away. There’s no excuse, for any of this. You have a million reasons to be angry at me, to hate me. I wanted to give you that chance.”

May and Peter stared at Tony.

“I was supposed to protect him,” Tony all but whispered, tears forming in his tired eyes. “I made a promise, to both of you, that I would look out for him.” Tony’s eyes flicked over to Peter. “But you ended up in god damn outer space, and then you were gone because I couldn’t stop that purple son of a bitch.” Tony shook his head again and looked down at the floor before back up to meet May’s eyes. “So whatever you want to say, whatever you want to do, you have every right.”

May took a deep breath, and her own tears were falling by the time she let it out. “You bastard,” she repeated, but with no heat behind her words this time.

She was wrapping her arms around Tony’s neck before Peter made sense of what was about to happen. He watched as Tony wrapped his arm weakly around May’s waist briefly before she released him and stepped back. She set her hands on her hips and let out a deep breath.

“Coffee?” she asked.

Tony breathed a relieved laugh. “Please.”

It was more than obvious that Tony was having trouble staying steady on his feet, so he followed Peter over to the couch while May went into the kitchen. Tony sat down next to Peter so the boy was on his left, angling his body to try and keep his missing arm out of his line of sight. He could tell already Peter was uneasy because of it, but he couldn’t blame him. Morgan still wasn’t used to it, either.

“Do you need a blanket or anything? A towel?” Peter asked.

Tony shook his head. “No, thank you. I’m good.”

Peter nodded, mostly to himself. He leaned back against the cushions, trying to relax his still tense muscles. He trained his eyes on his hands in his lap, fiddling with the bottom of his t shirt to try and occupy himself.

Tony watched the young man sitting next to him, really wishing he knew the right thing to say. But he didn’t. So he sat there quietly, until May returned with a tray of mugs.

“Thank you,” Tony said as he accepted his coffee. A smile tugged onto his lips when Peter gladly retrieved his cup of hot chocolate before May settled into the chair next to the couch.

The eldest Parker decided not to let silence fall.

“Where have you been the last three months?” she inquired.

Tony took a sip of his coffee even though he knew it would be too hot.

“The lake house,” he answered after effectively burning his tongue. “We wanted to change as little as possible, for Morgan. I had Pepper tell everyone they were going to leave, to travel, to keep everyone away so they wouldn’t have to keep lying every time someone came up to the house.”

“Were you there? For your funeral?” Peter asked.

“No,” Tony said, shaking his head. “I was still in the hospital. Well, not the same hospital. Fury moved me to a secure facility once I was stable enough. I stayed there for about a week until things had quieted down enough to go back home.”

“So you just hid and watched all of your friends grieve for you?”

Peter looked over at May, but her eyes were glued to Tony, demanding an answer to her question.

“I wasn’t...I didn’t spy on anyone,” he said lamely. “I couldn’t do much of anything for a long time. All I really did other than try to figure out what Beck was up to was fight with Fury and spend time with Morgan.”

“When are you going to tell everyone you’re still alive?” Peter asked before May could continue to interrogate him.

“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” Tony admitted. “I need to talk about it with Pepper. I don’t know that there’s a right way to do it. There’s definitely not an easy way.”

Tony took another drink before putting his mug down on the coffee table. He leaned forward, bracing his elbow on his knee as he looked over at Peter.

“I know that there’s nothing I can say or do to erase what I’ve put you through. It’s been eating at me every second of every day since I started this. And I know that that’s nothing compared to how you feel. I don’t deserve your forgiveness. But I would do absolutely anything to make this up to you, kid.”

“Can I meet Morgan?” Peter asked almost before Tony had finished speaking. Tony looked surprised at that. “We both know I forgive you. It sucked. And it’s going to be a while before things can go back to normal. I get that they might never even get back to normal after this. But I just want-”

“Peter,” Tony interrupted gently. “Of course you can meet her.”

The teenager let out a breath he hadn’t even realized he had been holding while he was rambling. He nodded slightly, letting a smile form on his lips.

He didn’t need to explain to Tony that this would be a form of closure for him that he hadn’t had before. He didn’t have to go into detail about how much he had wanted to meet his mentor’s daughter, or how crushing it had been when he hadn’t been able to. Pepper had made sure Tony was very well aware of the impact it had had on Peter.

“Wait, does Fury know you’re here?” Peter inquired, looking around the living room as if expecting to see him appear out of thin air.

“I didn’t tell him I was going to do this, but he probably knows,” Tony sighed. “But at this point, it doesn’t matter. I wasn’t going to let you find out some other way.”

Peter nodded. “So what now?”

Tony let out a long breath. “I have no idea.”

* * *

Just over a week later, Peter was once again in Tony’s Audi, but this time they were headed for the lake house. Tony still hadn’t completely announced the fact that he was still alive to a wider audience, but the final stages of a shiner under his left eye told Peter he had at least told one other person.

“Rhodey?” Peter asked, nodding to the barely there bruise.

A smile tugged at Tony’s lips. “Happy, actually. Rhodey is too accustomed to my bullshit after more than thirty years.” He glanced over at Peter. “And Happy beat him to it.”

The rest of the ride was relatively silent. Peter felt his anxiety increasing the closer they got. Memories of the last time he was at the lake house flooded his mind.

The feeling of not being able to take a deep breath. The looks on all of the faces of the people who had known Tony, who had loved him and were crushed by losing him. Wishing he could articulate to Pepper, to anyone, how hard he had tried to stop Thanos on Titan, and how he knew that this was all his fault.

His thoughts were cut off when he realized they were pulling up to the house. Pepper stood immediately upon seeing the car, vacating her seat on the porch. Peter felt like his legs had turned to cement as they walked up to the steps.

“Hello, Peter,” Pepper said softly before turning to Tony. “Morgan’s in her room. Why don’t you go get her?”

Tony nodded silently before heading into the house, leaving Peter outside with Pepper.

Before the teenager had a chance to speak, Pepper was hugging him tightly.

“I’m so sorry, Peter,” she said, her voice uncharacteristically shaky. She pulled away after a few moments to look at him, keeping her hands on his shoulders. “I’m so sorry. I know you were heartbroken when I wouldn’t let you see Morgan, and that was so unfair. You didn’t do anything wrong. I need you to know that. She just didn’t understand, and I couldn’t-”

“It’s okay,” Peter said, interrupting her gently. “I understand. You had to do what was best for your daughter. I can’t fault you for that. I can’t even imagine how difficult this has been for you, the both of you. I’m sorry I couldn’t have been there to help at all.”

Tears overflowed from Pepper’s eyes as she hugged Peter again. She didn’t let him go until she heard Tony and Morgan coming down the stairs.

Once he was released, Peter turned to watch Tony lead the little girl through the screen door. She was holding his hand, and her eyes found Peter’s immediately.

“Morgan, this is Peter,” Tony said, looking down at his daughter. “He’s the boy I’ve been telling you about.”

Intelligent brown eyes looked up at Peter as he smiled down at her. She glanced up at her father, then over at her mother, before looking at Peter.

“We need to go into my tent,” she decided, dropping Tony’s hand and holding it out for Peter to take.

Peter looked at Tony, who just smiled and shrugged. “She makes the rules, kid, not me.”

The five year old dutifully lead her new friend to the rather impressive tent set up down by the water. She crawled in first, sitting in her usual spot as she waited for Peter to settle in as well.

Despite her immaculate plan to escape her parents, Morgan didn’t account for the fact that they would still be able to hear them.

“I’m really glad I’m finally meeting you, Morgan,” Peter started as he began to feel uneasy under the curious gaze of the little girl.

“You’re the boy from the pictures,” Morgan noted. Not being able to confirm or deny this, Peter stayed silent. “Daddy told me a lot of stories about you.”

“Really?” Peter asked, his voice breaking despite his brevity.

Morgan nodded. “He talked about you all the time. He said you’re really smart and funny and you used to play jokes on him in the lab all the time. My favorite one was when you covered everything in Christmas wrapping paper.”

Her smile was contagious. Peter found himself laughing despite the lump that formed in his throat.

“That took me a long time. I got lucky he didn’t catch me.”

“Daddy was really sad that you were gone. And then he was even more sad that you were back, but he couldn’t see you,” Morgan went on, in that way only a five year old could. “He wouldn’t tell me why.”

Peter managed to keep his tears at bay. On the porch a few yards away, Tony wasn’t able to do the same.

“He had to, because he loves you so, so much,” Peter replied. “And he just wanted to keep you safe and happy. He did it all for you and your mom.”

Morgan looked back at Peter thoughtfully. “He said he did the time thing for you.”

It took Peter a few seconds to be able to reply to that. “He did?” was all he could manage.

“Yeah,” Morgan said with a nod. “He said he didn’t want to, because he was scared it wouldn’t work and that he wouldn’t see me again. But then he kept thinking about you, and how it wasn’t fair and he had to help you.” She brushed her hair out of her face. “I’m happy he did.”

“Me too,” Peter agreed, smiling down at her. “I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time.”

“I feel like you’re my big brother,” Morgan mused. “Even though I didn’t know you until today but it felt like I did because daddy loves you like he loves me.” She didn’t realize that Peter was choked up. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

Peter shook his head as he swallowed hard. “No, I don’t. My parents died when I was little. It’s just me and my aunt May.”

“Daddy’s mom and dad died when he was a kid, too,” Morgan pointed out. “But uncle Happy and uncle Rhodey are like his brothers. They were really mad at him for hiding for so long.” Another swipe of her hand got her hair out of her eyes. “Are you mad at him too?”

“I...” Peter faltered, unsure of how to explain this. “Yeah, I was mad,” he said, deciding she would certainly be able to tell if he was lying. She was Tony Stark’s daughter, after all. “But it was because I was so sad because I thought he was, uh, gone, and I really missed him. I’m not mad anymore. I’m just happy I can see him again, and meet you, and that you had him here with you this whole time.”

“He was sick for a long time because of the fight,” Morgan informed him as she looked down at her hands, which were picking at the sleeve of her shirt. “That’s why he lost his arm.”

Peter nodded slowly, realizing that she of course didn’t know that he had been there that day. He noted the change in her demeanor shift with the topic.

“Does it scare you?” he asked.

She shook her head and looked back up at him. “It did at first, because I thought he was gonna die. But then he got better and he was just still my daddy. He doesn’t like to use the...what’s it called?” she asked, waving her right arm back and forth.

“Prosthetic?” he offered.

“Yeah. That. He said it hurts and he doesn’t like it, but he’s going to fix everything soon anyway so it won’t matter. I don’t know what that means, though. He won’t tell me.”

Peter smiled. “He’s really smart, huh?”

Morgan nodded immediately. “I get to help him in the garage a lot more now because of his arm. He hasn’t gone in there much, though. I think he was too sad for a while.”

Peter swallowed again, even though it never really helped the lump in his throat. “He’s really lucky he has you, ya know. You’ve taken really good care of him.”

“Is he going to go back to work now?” Morgan asked, looking back down at her sleeves.

“I’m not sure,” Peter admitted. “This stuff is really complicated, and I don’t know if it’s all been figured out yet. But I do know that he’s going to want to stay here with you and your mom as much as he possibly can.”

Morgan kept her eyes down. “I just don’t want him to get hurt again or be sad anymore.”

Unbeknownst to the pair in the tent, Pepper joined in with Tony, both of them shedding tears as they listened to their daughter.

“He’s always going to be okay because he has you.”

That got Morgan to look back up at him. “And you too, right?”

“Right,” Peter agreed. “If that’s okay with you. You make the rules, right?”

Morgan giggled at that. “Mommy makes the rules, but sometimes I can too. Daddy tries to make rules, but he’s not very good at it.”

“No? Why not?” Peter asked with a smile.

“He gives up so easily. Like he’ll say no more juice pops but then we’ll eat the rest of the box when mommy goes to sleep.”

Peter laughed. “I bet you can talk him into just about anything, can’t you?”

Morgan shrugged, but her smile gave her away. “I guess so. Except he won’t let me play with the suits.”

“That’s probably for the best though.”

“I guess,” Morgan sighed.

Peter couldn’t have dropped the smile from his face if he had tried. “So what have you been doing all summer?”

While Morgan recounted her adventures, Tony was able to get himself back under control. His hand firmly in Pepper’s helped to ground him. When he looked over at her, he saw that she was looking over her shoulder at the tent with a small smile. He squeezed her hand, and her eyes shifted back to his.

He had stopped crying, but his eyes were bloodshot, making him look even more tired than he already had.

“Your daughter is really something else,” Pepper observed, putting her other hand over Tony’s, clasping it between both of hers.

Tony breathed a laugh. “That’s all you, and you know it.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Pepper, I...”

“I know,” she said, nodding once. “I know, sweetie. It’s okay.”

Any protest by Tony was stopped by hearing Peter and Morgan’s voices getting closer as they made their way over to the porch. Morgan ran up the steps and jumped onto Tony’s lap, knocking the breath out of his lungs momentarily.

“Is Peter staying for dinner?”she asked.

“If he wants to, he’s always more than welcome,” Pepper said.

“He wants to,” Morgan answered for him. “And he should probably just sleep over. Because daddy is too tired to drive back to the city.”

Peter looked nervously between Tony and Pepper. “I didn’t-”

“We know,” Pepper said with a laugh. “It’s very clear that Madame Secretary here concocted this plan all on her own.”

“He hasn’t seen Frozen,” Morgan reported, looking at her father as if this was the gravest concern any of them should have. “Not even once.”

“Well, we can’t have that, now can we?” Tony said, shaking his head in mock disgust.

“Nope,” Morgan agreed. “So we should probably make pizza for dinner and have a movie night.”

Tony smiled at his daughter. “Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out.”

“Why don’t you come help me get everything started?” Pepper said, scooping Morgan from Tony.

The little girl was about to argue, but decided that helping would mean it would all go faster, so she instead started discussing with her mother what should be put on the pizza once it was ready to go into the oven.

Once they had disappeared inside, Peter turned to Tony, who did look on the tired side as Morgan had pointed out.

“You could hear us, couldn’t you,” Peter stated more than asked.

Tony sighed. “I don’t think I’ll be able to let her out of my sight or at least earshot until she’s somewhere around twenty-five.”

Peter smiled. “Thank you, for letting me meet her.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” Tony said, shaking his head. “You should have already, you should have been here, not by yourself thinking...I shouldn’t have left you by yourself.”

“But you had to,” Peter said with a small shrug. “If something had happened to Morgan, or Pepper, because you kept me in the loop...” Peter trailed off, the thought too much to articulate. “I’d go through it all again knowing it helped keep them safe.”

Tony’s hand was shaking as he dragged it through his already messy hair. He didn’t try to hide the tears falling from his eyes from Peter. He was too tired, and knew he could tell, anyway.

“I never wanted to hurt you,” Tony swore. “It’s not that I didn’t care, or that I wanted to do this to you.”

“I know,” Peter cut in gently. He could see Tony’s breathing quickening, and realized he was dangerously close to a panic attack. “You had an impossible decision to make. But you made the right choice.”

A few moments of silence followed while Tony got his breathing back under control. Peter didn’t stare, but it was impossible not to notice that the older man was uncomfortable at best, and in a lot of pain at worst. He gripped his right shoulder, trying to massage away the tension there and in his neck.

“I’m fine,” Tony finally said in response to the worried look on Peter’s face. He dropped his hand to his lap. “I know you didn’t plan on it, but you’re more than welcome to stay here tonight if you want.”

“Are you sure?” Peter asked. “I know you must be exhausted, I don’t want to intrude.”

Tony couldn’t help but smile. “You’re not intruding. You never are. And trust me, dealing with the wrath of Morgan if you didn’t stay would be far worse than being a little tired.”

Peter laughed. “She’s so much like you,” he said before he realized he was going to speak.

“I know,” Tony agreed with a sigh. “Poor kid.”

A minute or so later, they went inside to see what could be done to help with dinner. Morgan and Peter were less helpful once the little girl heard that he would not only be staying for dinner, but also for the night. She made sure to explain thoroughly movie night procedures, especially the part about setting up all of the pillows and blankets on the floor and having their own bowl of popcorn.

“Daddy can’t be trusted,” she reported, lowering her voice as if it would prevent Tony from hearing her from just a few feet away. “He’ll eat all of it on us.”

“Excuse you, little miss,” Tony said dramatically. “Need I remind you that I’m the one who actually makes all of the popcorn?”

Morgan turned to Peter and rolled her eyes. “He says that every time, like it matters.”

Peter tried very hard to conceal his laughter, but he wasn’t able to. At least he gave it a valiant effort.

After dinner, Pepper took Morgan upstairs to take a quick bath and change into pajamas for the movie night. Tony gave Peter some sweatpants and a t shirt, changing into sweats himself. They settled into the living room to wait for Morgan’s return, both knowing better than to even start setting anything up until she was there to supervise properly.

Tony let his head fall back to rest against the couch and looked like he was fighting to keep his eyes open. But then a smile crossed his face, and he turned to look at Peter.

“Spider-Man is Morgan’s favorite Avenger, you know.”

He said it so casually that Peter had to take a second to process what he had just said.

“Does she know it’s me?” he finally asked.

Tony shook his head. “I wanted her to meet Peter Parker first. But if I’m being honest, I’m pretty sure she figured it out already. Kid is way too smart.”

“Wonder where she gets that from?” Peter mused with a smirk.

“Pepper,” Tony replied. “Definitely Pepper.”

“I guess I can’t argue with you there.”

“Not if you know what’s good for you,” Tony added.

Shifting slightly, Tony reached over and grabbed a pillow, putting it on his right side and leaning towards it. He tried not to fidget too much, but the ache in the remnants of his arm was turning into a burn and was radiating up through his shoulder to his neck.

“Can I get you anything?” Peter asked softly.

Tony smiled and shook his head. “Nah. I’m fine kid, thanks. Just a little sore.”

The teenager knew Tony well enough to know he was downplaying it, but he wasn’t going to call him on it. Peter wanted to be there for his mentor, to be supportive, but he also knew he had a wife and a daughter to do that for him, too, and he didn’t necessarily need Peter in that capacity.

That thought struck him hard in that moment, catching him totally off guard. He suddenly felt very out of place. Peter realized that the only other times he had been to this house was for Tony’s funeral, and when he had come to talk to Pepper and try to formally meet Morgan.

Five years was a long time. It didn’t feel that way to Peter, or anyone else who had been snapped, but Tony had still been here. He had gotten married, had a daughter, moved on. It was unfair to assume that he was going to be able to just pick back up where they had left off, that everything was going to go back to the way it was before those aliens had showed up in New York.

“I’m really glad you’re here, Pete.”

Tony’s voice cut through the static in his head. Peter realized that he had been staring off into space, and forced himself to look back at Tony. Ignoring the scars, he saw that he was definitely older. His hair was almost completely gray, and the laugh lines were almost full fledged wrinkles. But his eyes, as tired as they were, still held the same spark as they had the day Peter had first seen them in person.

Just when he was thinking that it had been way too long since Tony had spoken, receiving nothing in response from him, the older man continued.

“And I don’t just mean back on earth. I mean here, right now. After what I did...I prepared myself for the very real possibility that you wouldn’t want anything to do with me ever again. I wouldn’t have blamed you. But god, am I glad I was wrong.”

Peter let out a shaky breath. “For the last few months, I learned what life without you is like. And it sucks. It’s...everything is so empty. I knew that everything I did was wrong, and that I was letting you down. I don’t want to go back to that. Ever. But I know that you’ve got a family now, and that I can’t just-”

“You’re my family too, Peter,” Tony said, cutting him off. His voice was soft, but firm. “I lost you. For five years. But I didn’t move on, I didn’t replace you. I just...I got stuck, for a long time, and I was scared. It shouldn’t have taken as long as it did to get you all back. That’s on me, I’ll take that. But there’s no way in hell I’m letting you think you’re any less important to me just because some time has passed. You’re my family. You always have been.”

Footsteps hurrying down the stairs preempted any opportunity for Peter to respond to that. The genuine smile on Tony’s face told him he didn’t need to.

And besides, there wasn’t time. Morgan was now on scene, and was doing a very good job delegating to make sure the first movie night with Peter went absolutely perfectly.

The pillow and blanket fort on the floor came out just as Morgan had hoped. It was very cozy and provided the perfect atmosphere for their snacks and drinks as they watched Frozen. Morgan was sure to point out to Peter when he needed to pay extra attention. Pepper pointed out to Tony with a smile that the teenage boy seemed to be taking it seriously enough on his own without their daughter’s encouragement.

At the end of the movie, Pepper retired upstairs to finish up some work. Peter was just about to start cleaning up when Morgan crawled off the floor onto the couch, making her way onto Tony’s lap and sighing.

“Daddy,” she started sweetly, absentmindedly toying with the soft hair behind his ear. “It’s not that late, right? And it is summer, too.”

Tony raised an eyebrow as he looked down at his daughter, fighting with everything he had against a smirk. “Well, it’s true that it is summer. I can’t fight you there. But it’s also past your bedtime, so for you it is late, but that’s really a subjective concept.”

Morgan gave her father an unimpressed look. “So can we watch Frozen 2 now? Please?” she wanted to know, abandoning her strategy and getting straight to the point.

The look of contained excitement on Peter’s face caught the corner of Tony’s eye, but he kept his attention on Morgan. She wasn’t giving him her puppy dog eyes, but she knew she didn’t need to.

“You swear you’ll go to bed right after?” Tony prompted.

Morgan nodded. “Promise.”

Tony smiled and kissed her forehead. “You’ve made your case, counselor. I’ll allow it.”

Based on her smile, you would have thought Tony agreed to build her her own Iron Man suit.

After a bathroom break and another round of popcorn being made, Peter was getting ready to settle back onto the floor with Morgan, but she had a different idea. She pulled one of the blankets off the floor with her onto the couch, ducking under her father’s left arm and settling against his side. Peter followed suit, sitting in the empty spot on the other side of Morgan, effectively bracketing the little girl into the coziness of the couch.

Just as the movie was beginning, Peter realized that Tony caught him staring between him and Morgan. Peter was about to look away, but was stopped by Tony extending his arm and ruffling his hair affectionately before putting it back around Morgan securely.

Peter’s smile didn’t leave his face for the rest of the night.

Despite her best efforts, Morgan’s eyes fell closed with about ten minutes left in the movie. She was sound asleep against her dad by the time it was over.

Before he could offer any help, Peter was watching Tony stand from the couch with Morgan in his arm, tucked against him easily. Peter was reminded that although Tony’s body had been put through so much, he was still ridiculously strong.

He was still Iron Man.

Upstairs, Peter opened the door to Morgan’s bedroom for Tony, who carefully placed her into her bed. He ensured the blankets were arranged just so before clicking on the nightlight and closing the door silently behind him.

“You need anything?” Tony asked, ducking his head into the guest room where Peter was sitting on the bed.

Peter shook his head as he plugged his phone into the charger. “No, I’m good. Thank you, Mr. Stark.”

“Still won’t call me Tony, huh?”

“Maybe tomorrow,” Peter said with a smile.

Tony huffed a laugh. “Good night, kid.”

“Good night.”

After he heard Tony’s door clicked closed, Peter got up and went across the hall into the bathroom to brush his teeth with the spare toothbrush Pepper had told him was still in its packaging in the drawer. As he made his way back to his room, even in the dim lighting on the hallway, a familiar photograph caught the corner of his eye from where it hung on the wall among at least a dozen others.

Peter stopped, turning to get a better look at it even though he remembered that day as if it had been yesterday. May had taken it, on his birthday. Tony had gone over to their apartment for dinner. In the picture they were sitting on the couch, both with broad smiles on their faces. Tony was mid eye roll, whereas Peter’s eyes were basically closed because of how much he was laughing.

It made his heart swell. The picture had clearly been put up a long time ago, maybe even when they had first moved into the lake house. It fit in with the rest of the pictures depicting Happy, Rhodey, and of course the Stark family. It made Peter realize Tony had meant what he said, that Peter was his family too.

That would become even more apparent in the weeks, months, and years that followed. The first night he spent in the Stark’s lake house lead to a routine of spending time with them as much as possible. Being there in the calm before the storm of Tony making it known to the world that he was still alive was imperative to the foundation of their new relationship. Along with Pepper and Morgan, Peter joined Happy and Rhodey as Tony’s rocks, helping to keep him grounded and sane during the difficult times that followed.

Dozens more photographs were added to the house containing Peter. Him and Morgan in the lake, the little girl propped on his shoulders, leaning forward with her hands in his, giggling madly. Tony and Peter sitting on the dock, looking out over the water at sunset. Peter holding Morgan’s legs while Tony held her wrists before they swung her backwards and launched her into the water. After modifying extremis and regaining his right arm, Tony sitting between Peter and Morgan at the picnic table, an arm around each of them. Morgan sitting next to Peter in front of the fire, wearing his Midtown High sweatshirt that was way too big for her, watching intently as they toasted marshmallows.

Not having the same last name as them didn’t matter.

Peter was part of their family.


End file.
